One only needs to be a casual consumer of club rugby union to recognise that the winds of change are blowing. If the news that Owen Farrell is giving strong consideration to a move to Racing 92 came as a bombshell, the idea of an English player contemplating a move from the Premiership Rugby to the Top 14 did not.
Farrell’s situation is different to most but his mulling of a move across the Channel reflects the general direction of rugby’s labour migration. France’s Top 14 is now firmly established as the world’s top domestic league financially, with a bumper TV deal, buoyant crowds and a thriving structure beneath it sustaining professional clubs across three tiers.
